Nando’s has reopened its Colchester Tollgate branch for deliveries as it gradually begins to fire up its grills across the UK.

The restaurant at Tollgate Centre Shopping Park is one of 39 new branches which have been reopened this week, including the Norwich Riverside site.

The two branches in Ipswich are yet to reopen since the lockdown was implemented, however the chain – which has 340 sites across the country – is hoping to reopen more locations over the coming weeks following its “successful” trial.

The fast-food restaurant, which is renowned for its peri-peri spiced chicken, gives customers the chance to order from the Colchester Tollgate restaurant online and have orders delivered by Deliveroo for an extra £1.99 charge.

Other areas are also operating click and collect, however the Colchester branch is only offering delivery at this time.

Nando’s is the latest in a long line of other restaurant chains, including McDonald’s and KFC, which have recently returned to serving hungry customers.

More: ALL McDonald’s drive-thrus in Suffolk to reopen next weekIn March, the government told restaurants to shut their doors as part of the lockdown, but have continued to allow restaurants to serve takeaway and collection services, in line with health and safety guidelines.

However, some company’s – including Costa Coffee and McDonald’s – have been forced to close their drive-thru services due to “major queues” which required the police to control traffic.

Officers were called to the Costa Coffee at Ipswich Euro Retail Park hours after it reopened to the public on Saturday, May 2, following reports that traffic was back to the Sainsbury’s roundabout.

Meanwhile, the McDonald’s drive-thru in Ravenswood was forced to close temporarily last week following similar problems with huge traffic queues.

•For all our latest coronavirus coverage see here.